[Blahah]

Taleb is intellectually dishonest and quite probably a terrible human being. His strategy of making money exploiting anti-intellectual movements to do with agriculture and human nutrition is just abhorrent to me. He transparently and carefully constructs the minimal argument required to garner support from existing, factually misguided activists. Your quote actually highlights the entire problem with his approach. He's a charlatan, making money by identifying exploitable social waves that act against the best interests of society, and lending them his intellectual credit.

[lmoml]

Agreed. Roman Republican ethics (2000+ years ago) held as a core value the idea that your legacy is more important than personal gain, and that just because you _can_ do a thing, that does not mean that it is best that you do it. Taking advantage of opportunities for personal gain at a net loss to society is childishly small-minded, and ignores the fact that the best elements of society were built by people doing the exact opposite because they had the wisdom to know that it was a more dignified way to conduct one's self in one's short window of existence.